The Ninja's Playground
by SinisterlyMe
Summary: Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji are hiding a dark secret, but when Tsunade demands that all Shinobi of the Leaf are given a Physical Exam, questions arise. A story that started one Academy day summer afternoon four years ago. Characters:Chouji and Kiba
1. Chapter 1

The Ninja's Playground

Summary: Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji have had a dark secret that was never meant to be shared, but when Tsunade demands that all Shinobi of the Leaf are given a Physical Exam, questions arise. A story that started one summer afternoon four years ago.

**Awesome so this story was originally written by SleepyWriter66, but he/she is no longer writing. She/He is going through her/his last year of high school and doesn't have the time, but doesn't want to leave his/her stories hanging. So she/he asked me if I wanted to take over his/her story and I liked this one so I said yes, and I'm considering doing the same for the others if I finish this. SleepyWriter66 wrote the first three chapters, but I changed a few things so if you had previously read this, then you can see the difference… if not then enjoy.**

They are all about thirteen or so (however you want to envision this), but it is still before Sasuke Retrieval, but after the Chunin Exams/Invasion. And then they are nine or ten years old during their first year in the academy when the _real_ story starts!

If you read any of my other stories, then I am indefinitely postponing The Differences in Similarities and the chapter four of To the Ends of Our World will be submitted either later today or tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto because if I did lots of things would change

Warning: Cussing, maybe one gory scene and **slide scene** sexual assault

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><p>Konoha was completely overflowing with missions, tasks and orders, and after the attack on the village by the Sand Village Orochimaru, dept had been a huge problem in the Leaf. And no one knew that better than the exhausted Chunin in the Mission Room. If anyone had ever said that desk ninja were out of shape or never saw action, they definitely never turned in a mission scroll on a busy day like this. It was like pulling teeth with even a lot of the Jounin.<p>

It was also one of the few times that Tsunade ever appeared in that room. Unlike the Sandiame, who dedicated a good amount of time helping in said room, Tsunade did everything in her power to avoid it for as long as possible. It was to her misfortune that Shizune had forced her to go and help pass and except mission scrolls on what looked like the busiest day of the year. It just showed how unlucky she could be… even outside of gambling.

Reaching over to her left side, her hand searched for a sake bottle, which was always at least a few feet from her. But today she was only met with air, and questioning stares from some of the people in the room. She rubbed her temples in frustration and prayed that the day would somehow calm down. Rubbing her shoulders, she continued to work on the endless piles of paper stacked on the desk.

It wasn't until later that afternoon did things start to settle down. The room was considerably quieter, and only a few ninjas that were doing over night missions, or coming back from all day ones were coming in. Leaning back in the chair she was sitting in, Tsunade gave herself a pat on the back for a good days work and mentally promised herself two bottles of alcohol to reward herself. It was at that moment she wished she had knocked on wood. The front door slowly slid open in an almost sluggish way, and then began to shut again in an equally snail paced manner. The man that entered was of regular shinobi build, and had average features. Or at least he would have if it weren't for the light sheen of sweat that seemed to have broken out on his body, and his bloodshot eyes. He didn't seem to have any bleeding parts, but sported a good amount of bruises and scratches all over his body. The man stumbled to the front desk, his legs looking more like rickety pillars by the second. Tsunade pursed her lips in concern while she openly watched him come nearer. As he handed her his scroll, she waved him closer. But she had to hold her breath when she smelt blood and dirt mixed with sweat.

"You don't look so good. Stop by the hospital to get checked out."

The man shook his head. "No worries, Lady Tsunade. I'm just fine. I don't need to be chec…"

The male ninja was unable to finish sentence as his eyes suddenly bugged out. Before anyone could even blink, he had hunched over, thrown up, and then promptly fell unconscious. You would think that the ninja of the room would have all rushed to the man's aid, but while maybe only two or three helped their sick comrade, the rest were more concerned about their Hokage who was covered in the acidy liquid the man had just belched up. Between the long day, vomit and the crowd of people, it didn't take long for the blonde woman to finally crack.

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><p>"Well, someone finally found a way to get you into the hospital while you're still conscious." Asuma said with a sarcastic laugh as he walked with Kakashi. He threw his cigarette to the ground, and crushed it before promptly lighting up a new one; both of them looking a bit dejected about the new mission for the whole ninja population.<p>

Just the other month, Tsunade had declared that all ninja of the leaf were required by law to get, _at least_, one check up at the hospital a year for physical and mental health. Quite a few handfuls of the Jounin readily protested because of the usual nagging the received from the doctors in the hospital about their bad habits, but not everyone was so unhappy. Most the Chunin, if not all, cheered at having a free check up since the first one was of no charge, and living on their pay roll meant that every cent counted.

Needless to say, it was a pain in the ass to organize since ninja couldn't just stop missions, and go to the hospital. So a group of council men took all the files out of all the shinobi, minus ANBU, and set up days where they weren't allowed to take missions and they had to come in. It took a month to organize, and the notice was sent out a few weeks before they actually had an appointment, which was a smart thing to do when you had ninja like Kakashi running around. Avoidance was impossible this time, and no one, not even Kakashi, wanted to answer to the new Hokage about their absence.

"I can hardly believe it myself. I would have taken a side trip, but well… the road was blocked." Asuma didn't ask any further on what Kakashi meant as they walked to the hospital. From what they had heard from other shinobi, the councilmen had set it up where all the cell members had appointments back to back. It just made it easier so they weren't missing a member or two on the next mission. Standing in front of the hospital was a huge group of shinobi of all ranks that also included their own students. After pushing through the huge crowd, Kakashi and Asuma joined Kurenai, who was standing with all nine of their pupils. She gave Asuma a grateful smile for finding Kakashi before engaging in a conversation with a Chunin friend.

Naruto and Kiba were standing to the side arguing loudly; Akamaru barking from the top of Kiba's head. It was a wonder how Naruto wasn't an Inuzuka what with his large temper and habit of starting fights. Both of them were practically at each other's throats as they ground their teeth and growled at each other. Chouji and Shikamaru silently watched from the side lines, one ear listening in on the fight and the other on the rest of their friends.

It wasn't until Kiba raised a fist that Chouji softly intervened. The swirl-cheeked boy stood between Naruto and Kiba in an attempt to stop the escalating quarrel, but was only able to stop them from completely tearing the other apart. Chouji looked at Shikamaru in a pleading way to get the shadow boy to do something. Shikamaru's shoulders slumped and he sighed in exasperation. Rolling his eyes at actually having to do something strenuous so early in the morning, he walked a little closer to the fight.

"Naruto, stop being an idiot."

"What about Kiba? He started it!"

Drawing the blonde boy away from Chouji and Kiba, he chuckled to himself at how easy it was to get Naruto to forget an argument with another argument. Nothing did the trick like the word 'idiot'. Now Shikamaru knew that Naruto was far from a _complete_ idiot, (he really did do badly sometimes, but would come through on top quite a lot) but was just mistaken as so because he was rash and way too hasty. It was kind of like how he himself was mistaken as unreliable. He'd get it done if someone asked him to do something, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Are you even listening to me?" Naruto yelled.

His blonde hair flopped into his eyes as he screamed. It had been a while since he had cut his hair, but there was just so much to do lately. They were finally getting missions that didn't consist of broken fences or evil cats, but he hadn't seen everyone together like this since someone was always out of the village. Naruto had been paired up with random Chunin and other genin, that he hardly ever saw his original team or the others together. He had to say this was the first time in three months all nine of them were in the same place at the same time. Scratching his whisker-scarred cheeks he peaked over Shikamaru's shoulder and stuck out his tongue at Kiba who wasted no time in giving him the finger. Naruto turned his head when the crowd of people around then started to move forward. Their appointment was technically in forty-five minutes, but they stilled had to sign papers. Naruto pouted in annoyance; walking to stand next to the ever-brooding Sasuke. Fidgeting next to the completely motionless boy, Naruto gave a heavy sigh. Sometimes he wondered how the raven-haired Uchiha had weaseled his way into getting Naruto's best friend status without even trying.

"Alright people! Patients two hundred and forty six through two hundred and sixty two please start filling out your paper work." The woman at the front desk drawled. Her long nails clicked on her desk with impatience while their entire group and an additional cell of genin hurried to grab the papers from the female.

There were several pages consisting of the usual requirements Kiba noted; name, registration number, active duty status, rank and so on. Flipping through the pages, Kiba quickly filled out all the requirements. Everything was absolutely peachy until he reached the second to last page, which was part of the psych portion of the exam. Looking up from the papers, he peered over at Shikamaru and Naruto who both seemed to have stopped writing. Both boys held the pencil loosely in their hand before slowly and almost carefully continuing to fill out the questionnaire. Kiba's eyes darted to Chouji who was also staring at Shikamaru and Naruto with obvious concern. The Akimichi snapped his head in towards Kiba, a worried frown and slightly panicked look washing over his usually happy face. Kiba gave a _cut it out _look, his hand swishing back and forth quickly, so he wouldn't have to voice it. Doing it several more times before someone noticed Chouji looking like he swallowed a kunai, Kiba nervously scratching his head when Hinata looked up, and then he sighed in relief when she went back to finishing the paperwork.

Signing on the dotted line, Shikamaru got up from his seat with the rest of the group.

"Patients two hundred and forty six through two hundred and sixty two please make your way towards the examination rooms. Look on your file to see what room, and hall to go to that match your qualifications and needs. Thank you, NEXT!"

Shikamaru slightly flinched at the _qualifications and needs _part. Even though the receptionist didn't know it, it was very offensive and slightly disconcerting to hear. Their group moved together down the long white hall ways, and the four boys moved a little closer to each other; their bodies huddled together and voices brought down to a whisper. Thankfully, besides Sasuke glancing back at them once, they went unnoticed as the rest of the group became more occupied in their own conversations.

"What did you write on the third page?" Kiba asked in a hushed voice to Shikamaru and Naruto. Naruto stayed silent, letting Shikamaru do the talking, which was already proof enough that this whole situation was very unnerving.

"The truth. We lied about it on the physical we got after what happened and when we graduated, but I highly doubt we can fool them again."

Chouji frowned at the logic, but agreed in the end. If they were lucky, no one would ask any questions, but even he knew that was farfetched. If Chouji knew one thing for certain about their group of friends, is that they could either be described as curious or nosy. They always needed some kind of answer or explanation, and while that can be very good in most situations, (ranging from caring about a friend to solving a mission) this was not the case today.

Chouji looked in front of him where Naruto was leading. Even by just looking at the orange-clad back, Chouji could tell that Naruto was in deep thought. Whether it was about what happened that lead them into this state of panic or a way out of it, he couldn't tell, but the look didn't fit Naruto well. Chouji always knew that any secret was bound to get out sometime. Even if someone took it to the grave, another would somehow find a clue and get curious. As much as the four of them meant to keep that summer event four years ago a secret, it was not to be.

They could see a split in the hall coming up, and even with Sakura and Ino loudly gushing about maybe being able to see Sasuke's bare chest, the sound seemed to drown out from the blood pounding in their ears. Keeping the secret was so much more than just pride and shame. It would somewhat hard to tell everyone, but the very thought of repeating the memory, even with words, was both daunting and sickening. It was at the split that Naruto stopped walking and turned to the three other boys. "Even if we don't get out of this, we're in this together."

All four of the boys nodded at the very familiar and comforting phrase before bumping fists.

Asuma looked behind him as they continued walking down the hall. "Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Naruto! Don't just stand there talking! Hurry up!" He yelled which was followed by a rumbling laugh. The boy's heads snapped in his direction, and his brow furrowed in confusion at the expressions on their faces. Stopping in the middle of the hall, Asuma stood still and waited for them. "That's not the right hall guys!"

The rest of the group also stopped and turned around, curious gazes aimed at their four teammates. They became even more puzzled when Chouji surged forward, and incased Naruto and Shikamaru in a crushing hug. They could vaguely hear Chouji whispering something along the lines of _I'm sorry, so so sorry_ before Kiba patted them on the back. At that moment, Naruto and Shikamaru disappeared into the next hall, while Kiba and Chouji ran back up to them. They tried to ignore the distinct horror that flitted across the teachers' faces at the realization. Sakura and Ino loudly yelled out their missing teammates names, thinking that the two boys had not heard Asuma correctly and still went down the wrong hall. Asuma and Kakashi stayed silent as they stared at Kiba and Chouji, but it was Kurenai that finally voiced all three of their thoughts. Her voice shook from some emotion the nervous boys couldn't quite point out.

"Kiba, why are they going down _that_ hall?"

Hinata looked at the teachers, and her teammate in confusion. "I-I don't get it? I w-went in t-that hall when I was kidnapped years ago. T-they just checked f-for injuries?"

Kurenai swiftly turned to her, and gave her a tight hug. "And thank Kami they didn't find the injuries they were looking for!"

Kakashi finally spoke, his voice deathly serious. It was a tone he barely ever used, and for good reason. Kiba and Chouji seemed to shrink back as each word that slithered out of his mouth and reached their ears. "Sakura, Ino, Shino, Sasuke, Hinata, go to the examination rooms and get your tests done. We'll meet back with you guys when you're done. Chouji, Kiba, you have explaining to do."

They led the boys back to the lobby, and out of the hospital. All five of them were a bit surprised to see Shizune walking away with Shikamaru and Naruto to what looked like in the same direction the Hokage office was located. "Ms. Shizune! I think it would be in our best interest to have all of them together."

The young women turned around, and before she asked what they meant, noticed the look in their eyes. Even if she didn't know exactly what Kiba and Chouji had to do with it, she knew they were somehow involved. The walk to Tsunade's office was tense and silent. Shizune had already sent a messenger to inform Tsunade of the issue and that they were coming right away. All four boys stuck together really closely; afraid that if they didn't physically feel the other's presence they would disappear and leave them all alone.

The sight made all four adults even more worried about hearing the explanation. Their students looked like almost pale. And it only seemed to get worse as they climbed the stairs up to Tsunade, and opened the double doors. The door that shut behind them made an almost deafening click. Kurenai softly pushed them forward and closer to Tsunade, who was sitting at her desk. Her eyes were down, roaming the surface of her desk for some unknown object. Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai sat to the side while Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Naruto sat in four chairs that had conveniently been placed right in front of her. As Shizune sat next to Tsunade and hugged Tonton close to her, the blonde Hokage looked up from her desk, and quietly looked at each boy. Her eyes sadly landed on her favorite, a boy she had come to consider a son, and she spoke in only a whisper. "Naruto? Sexual assault? And Shikamaru?" Even if the question was directed at Naruto first, the other three boys recoiled back like a snake had sprung out to bite them. The room got deathly silent again, and you could almost hear the stamping sound coming from outside where the secretary was working. It was maybe like that for another five minutes, before Tsunade moved from behind her desk. Giving a sigh, she pulled up a chair so that she was sitting closer to the four and could comfortably (well as much as possible in this sort of situation) face the four genin, and the three Jounin sitting not too far off from the side.

It was surprisingly Chouji who was the first to speak. "We… we couldn't say anything. It was just too hard and complicated at the time."

Kiba nodded with agreement and quietly spoke after. "It was our first year at the academy, and we took the requirements very seriously."

"Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity, have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work, and be healthy in mind and body. At the time, we thought that they would take us out because we were just kids." Chouji mumbled.

It was silent again for quite some time until Naruto stood up quickly. He moved to stand in front of one of the windows overlooking the village. He gripped the windowsill, and was joined by Shikamaru who leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. Throughout the explanation, all four would tell their tale. Looking at Shikamaru from the corner of his eye, Naruto spoke.

"It was about four, five years ago during the summer. The academy…"

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><p>Nine year old Naruto rushed from the classroom, jumping into the air and giving a mighty whoop. It was the middle of summer, so the sun happily shined down on his face. He happily spun on his heels and turned to Kiba, who had already escaped the confines of their classroom, and Shikamaru with Chouji, who were just walking out of the building. (Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru are ten years old) Rushing back to meet them, all four boys and Kiba's dog Akamaru cheerfully started to chat about their plans for the lengthened weekend. The weekend ahead of them had been extended by three days (Five day weekend, people! ) for a reward. Earlier that month, the entire academy had taken a major test. To all the teachers' happiness, everyone in the entire academy had passed. Even Naruto and Shikamaru had scraped together a barely passing grade. (Shikamaru made sure to try a little bit this time instead of sleeping through the entire thing) For a reward, the teachers decided that a bit of a vacation was in due order.<p>

"Did you ask Shino if he could come?" Naruto asked Kiba, who was holding Akamaru up in the air and swinging him in his arms.

"Yeah, he said that he couldn't go. Apparently the clan is going on some kind of excursion or something."

Naruto scratched his head before asking, "What's an excursion?"

Kiba shrugged as he continued to entertain his white puppy. Chouji punched on a bag of potato chips as they walked together. Suddenly remembering what he forgot to do, he searched the yard.

"Sasuke! You want to come with us on sort of a camping trip? It'll be fun!"

Naruto turned at the same time Sasuke did, giving the dark-haired boy a small wave. Sasuke's face remained stoic, but his eyes flashed with an emotion Naruto clearly recognized as loneliness. Sasuke promptly explained that he didn't have the time, and quickly walked away.

"What a bastard." Naruto said under his breath angrily.

As they all shrugged, the four boys continued to talk about their plans. They sat underneath the tree with the swing, listing all the things that needed to be brought and the explanation that they had given to their parents, minus Naruto. It took a lot of convincing, but both Shikamaru and Chouji had gotten their mothers to allow them to stay out for more than one night. It even took Shikamaru a quick _how-well-can-you-do_ a shadow possession Jutsu test, which was almost too troublesome for the lazy boy to even attempt. Kiba on the other hand only had to say _camping_ and _friends _before his mother happily agreed and even volunteered to supply a good amount of the supplies. The only downer was that she wouldn't let Kiba take Akamaru, since the small pup still wasn't ready to be out in the wilderness for too long.

Checking the time, all four boys decided to go home and pick up the supplies for their adventure. Naruto made a stop at Ichiraku to have as much ramen as he could afford before heading out. Even if they were bringing a pot and ramen cups, nothing beat Ichiraku's. As he slurped up the delicious noodles, Naruto couldn't help but thinking how silly they were going to look out in a the forest on the southeast side of Konoha outside of the Inuzuka compound. Naruto laughed as he imagined Shikamaru muttering _troublesome_ under his breath before refusing to sleep on the floor and strolling towards the dog-like boy's house to sleep. They had considered camping out in the forest behind Shikamaru's house, but the boy reminded them of the deer that roamed the forest; something Shikamaru warned them was one of the things you never wanted to really disturb. Plus Kiba's 'backyard' had a river running through it. That would make the experience all the more exciting. Heaving the large bag onto his back, Naruto trekked all the way to Kiba's house where Chouji was already waiting with Kiba. A few minutes later, Shikamaru ambled over to the smiling group of boys, and gave them a small wave, back hunched over as usual. After promising Kiba's mother they wouldn't get into any trouble (fingers crossed) all four boys headed into the forest. Passing by an open area with a polished stone in the middle, they walked deeper into the forest until they were satisfied with the distance between them and the general populace. Setting down their supplies, they wandered towards the crystal clear river not too far away. "You don't think our parents are going to check on us, do you?" Chouji said.

Kiba waved the comment off carelessly while kicking up water. "Please, the most dangerous thing in these woods are squirrels, and we're only a mile or so away from my house."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically as he placed his feet in the river, and then looked up at the sky, which was slightly darkening. Feeling a small shiver go up his arm, he looked over at Shikamaru who looked to be thinking the same thing.

"Does anyone know how to make a fire?"

"Yeah, that's why we asked Sasuke to come… shit."

"Yeah shit."

Shikamaru dug into his pocket, and lightly tossed a batch of matches at them.

"I got it covered."

Moving back towards their campsite, they started to set up the tents, and the fire.

As they set their stuff up, and sat around the flickering fire, Chouji, Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba all believed that this was something they would never forget. They had no idea…

_**REVIEW!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Outside Home

Okay so it's been a little difficult figuring this out, but I'm just going to assume that the first afternoon was a Friday, and that this whole ordeal will end on a Wednesday afternoon. Awesome so that means that this chapter starts on a Saturday morning! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto but I don't… you're sooo lucky Kishi!

By the way, I wanted to give you a slight visual for the story, so here are two pictures that I found that I thought fit the story. If you have seen these pictures before on the internet, then yes, I was skillfully able to erase Akamaru from the pictures and Sasuke from the star one.

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><p>"I'm telling you, the ANBU really do put their target's head in a scroll and bring it back!" Kiba yelled loudly. His arms were flailing around in emphasis, but that only made Naruto and Chouji laugh even harder. Finally getting himself under control enough to talk, Naruto patted Kiba on the back. "Yeah, and this is coming from the same cousin that told you, you had to kill someone to be able to enter the Academy. I think you should get a better resource, believe it."<p>

Lunging at the blonde boy, Kiba tackled him to the ground. Holding Naruto's body to the dirt ground, Kiba tried to get his fox-like friend into a head lock. They scuffled on the ground for a few minutes while Shikamaru and Chouji watched from the sidelines; each of them yelling at each other about why the other was stupider. That conversation always started and ended the same way though; with Naruto exclaiming loudly '_I'll be Hokage one day'_ and Kiba yelling back '_You've already failed the graduation once'. _Naruto was able to squirm his way out of the hold, but had grass stains all down his front; not that it mattered since this kind of thing happened enough to where green lines on his clothes were becoming a normal feature. Brushing himself off, Naruto stuck out his tongue at Kiba, who swore under his breath at letting his blonde classmates slip from right under him… literally.

"Naruto is kind of right, Kiba." Shikamaru sighed as he lay stretched out on the ground gazing at the sky through the tall trees. His eyes were half mast, and it was a wonder how he hadn't fallen asleep already. He had even been yawning the past hour after breakfast. "Not about being smarter… the cousin part."

"You're only saying that because…"

It was like that almost every morning for the four friends. Even at the academy, they found time in the morning to argue about something or other. It was the first day of their semi-camping trip, and the day had just begun. From how the sun was sitting in the sky, it was just about ten in the morning, but the boys had already been up for some time. They had already eaten breakfast, which only consisted of packed junk food. (The healthy dried food Kiba's mother packed was quickly discarded to the side) It wasn't until mid-meal did they somehow start an argument about storage scrolls before breakfast even finished; a personal record, but still nothing to be proud of.

It was Chouji that finally got them to stop fighting. After pointing out that it was getting hot, and there was a river not far off, Kiba and Naruto wasted no time in rushing in the pointed direction. Chouji jogged behind them, while Shikamaru- although with great sorrow- rolled off the ground and leisurely followed them.

It really was a beautiful day. There were fluffy white clouds painted across clear blue skies, which were occasionally dotted with birds flying above. Anyone would have agreed that the day felt somewhat enchanting. Even the grass and leaves looked greener; some taking on an almost emerald hue. The river was literally crystal clear where you could easily see the fish swimming in the middle, and the rocks glimmering on the bottom. Once and a while they would see what looked like a water snake streak by from one bank to the other or a frog and tadpole mingling around the edges of the bank where the soil was more like mud. In short, it was a kid's dream come true. No adults to tell them to stop, all the animals they can chase and the river wasn't that deep, if not maybe just chest high.

Kiba and Naruto raced to the water's edge, making sure to kick off their shoes, and rip off their shirts in the process. Shikamaru, who wasn't that far behind, slowly made his way into the river with Chouji. "Kiba, come over here!" Shikamaru called out.

The triangle tattooed boy, trudged his way quickly towards Shikamaru, but in his haste, lost his balance and landed face first into the water. Naruto doubled over with laughter while Shikamaru almost slipped too as his shoulders shook. The entire area was filled with laughter and noise as the two boys swam away from the dripping Inuzuka. In the background they could just about see Chouji's hands dart in to the water quickly and catch a fish thicker than his head. The fish wriggled about in his hands before smacking him in the face with his tale and swimming downstream.

"Let's have a mud war!" Naruto exclaimed loudly which was followed by cheers of agreement from Kiba and Chouji. Shikamaru just shook his head, grabbing a piece of algae that had clung to his bare stomach and throwing it back into the water.

"No way. We're camping out in the middle of a forest, and I'd rather not get as dirty as possible. That would be lame."

"Fine, fine. I guess you do have a point."

Flopping onto his back, Kiba started to float down stream, slowly passing Chouji on the way. Shrugging his shoulders, Chouji followed suit, trying his best to keep the water out of his mouth and nose. Both of them let the river take them farther down, up until they were passing Shikamaru and Naruto. "Now that's a good idea." Shikamaru said.

Not wanting to be left behind, Naruto sank into the water and followed the three boys while occasionally spitting out water fountains in their direction with his cupped hands or mouth. Once and a while a conversation would come up about what kind of ninja they wanted to be or what they thought of certain duties or ranks. To say the least, they were all surprised to discover that Shikamaru had once considered ANBU as a shinobi career for himself, but quickly backed out when he found out the hours he had to spend working. No, he was perfectly fine being an ordinary ninja who would die from old age, thanks very much. They laughed and talked for quite some time, but it wasn't until they passed the open area with the polished rock again did they even question where they were being lead.

"Who cares? It's not like we're going to get in trouble."Naruto said, swimming another circle around Shikamaru. So they spent the entire morning slowly floating down the river, relaxing under the hot sun in the cool water.

"Hey guys, maybe we should head back now." Chouji said while wiping a small drop of water off the tip of his nose.

"It is lunch soon." Naruto stated; his stomach grumbling after the words left his mouth. All of them nodding in agreement and stood up from the river, but stopped when they saw the image behind them. "Woah."

They hadn't really kept track of how far they had been taken, but the four boys had floated close to the edge of the village. They could literally see the base of the wall that surrounded Konoha. They could even catch a glimpse of a shinobi walking on top of the high barrier, which reached pretty high up. In class they were told that the high walls surrounding Konoha were three yards across, and pretty much impossible to scale. From what they could see, the stone it was made of looked like it was in perfect condition which was surprising since it had been around since the first Hokage. Already out of the river, the four boys, trying not to cut their bare feet on stray rocks, walked closer to the wall. The kept adjacent to the river, and followed the blue stream all the way up to the base of the mountain like wall. The place where the wall and the river met was just as ordinary as the rest of the wall connected to the dirt ground was. The water seemed to just stop at the barrier, but then again the area was covered in reeds, moss and lily pads so you really couldn't tell. Curious to see where the water went, the pre genin drew closer to the wall until they were leaning up against it and looking down at the water.

"You don't think that the stream just ends their right?"

"Naruto, did you even look inside your Academy book all year? There's a map of Konoha in the back. The river goes out of the village." Chouji said. He really did worry about Naruto. The blonde boy had entered the academy some time before Shikamaru, Kiba, and himself, but at this rate, he wouldn't even graduate the same year. He really was smart, but he was as much a day dreamer as Shikamaru was a lazy bum.

Kiba looked in all directions, checking to see if the ninja on the wall had noticed them. Coupled by the fact that they were still very small, and barely even made a noticeable chakra signature, let alone a threatening one, they went completely unnoticed. Once he was sure that no one was looking their way, Kiba slipped into the water again, and tried his best to ignore the bugs flying around the plants and the mud pushing between his toes.

"Kiba, what are you doing?"

Chouji watched with Shikamaru and Naruto as Kiba reached out to where the river and wall went. Placing his hands on the stone, Kiba ran them farther down until he felt just liquid and no stone. Sticking his tongue out, he tried to see if there were any bars that were placed under water, but as he squatted farther into the water, he felt a sudden tug. Barely being able to duck his head to avoid the stone, Kiba was sucked under with a small splash.

"Holy mother of crap!" Naruto screamed quickly grabbing a stick and poking the area Kiba had previously been. There were a few ripples and bubbles disturbing the surface, but otherwise no sign to the fourth member of their group. "What if he's drowning? Come on guys we have to get him out!"

Naruto leaped into the water, reaching out to where the bubbles were surfacing. He felt something surge through his arm, and he was promptly pulled under water, too. Naruto struggled to keep the water out of his mouth as he felt a hand reach out and clasp his own. Naruto's heart was racing as he felt the person who grabbed a hold of him get tugged along. All he could see was a light glow of green from the plants as the tumbled through the water. When Naruto was almost afraid that he would run out of air, he finally broke back to the surface. The river seemed to spit him out, carrying him into a hard pile of mud and grass. He jumped back when he heard Kiba, which he discovered was the mass of dirt, grunt in pain. Tumbling to the side, they barely dodged Chouji and Shikamaru as they barreled towards them. They were all covered in mud, and drenching wet, but relatively unharmed.

"Get this shit off me!"

The three boys jumped in surprise at hearing Shikamaru raise his voice. He hadn't shown so much enthusiasm since the time he heard that if you were sick you got to spend the day at home instead of the academy. Covering his body were tiny finger sized black looking slugs that had latched onto his pale skin. Shaking them all off, the marks they left behind were red bruises that were not quite bleeding yet. "Leaches!"

Kiba stopped, dropped and rolled on the ground, grinding his body against the ground to scratch off the pesky animals or kill them in the process. Chouji and Naruto slapped them off each other and checking to see if there were any left, which was hard when you were caked with dirt and grime. When they were sure that none of the leaches were left, the four boys dragged themselves away from the water, and sat against a conglomeration of trees.

"Man this sucks! What are we going to do now?" Kiba complained as he helped Chouji get a twig out of his hair. Naruto was staring at Shikamaru, who had placed his fingertips together in concentration and started to think up a good plan for them. After a few moments, the small boy opened his eyes again and looked up at the tall wall. He then groaned in annoyance before slapping his hand over his eyes and rubbing it down his face.

"This is so troublesome. I forgot that there's a barrier around Konoha which doesn't let foreign energy in. But that's not our problem. The barrier makes sure that if there is a hole in the wall, it sucks out everyone with even the slightest chakra amount. Dad and some Yamanaka were talking about it a few weeks ago. They said there hasn't been a hole in over three decades, though."

"Well apparently they never checked the hole that lets the water in, believe it!" Naruto said sourly before his frown disappeared quicker than a blink. "Wait! We're out of the village! Do you know what this means? We can explore the forest out here! We'd be worshipped!"

Kiba stood up next to Naruto, pumping his tanned fist into the air. "Yeah, I bet we are the first Academy students to ever sneak past the guards!" The dog boy didn't mention the fact that slipping past the guards was a complete fluke, but in the back of his mind he was twisting the story to where his slip up in the river would sound more like a discovery. Chouji looked somewhat excited, and as much as Shikamaru hated attention, he wouldn't mind getting enough respect from their classmates so that if he asked, they wouldn't bother him. But, being a genius, Shikamaru brought up a problem they hadn't realized.

"How are we going to get back into the village? If we go back in through the gate we're going to be seen and someone's going to tell our parents."

Even Naruto, who lived alone, felt a shiver go down his back at the thought of his friends' parents finding out. In the long run, if they got caught, Naruto wouldn't be able to spend time with his friends because they would be grounded. And they were the only friends he had. _Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good _Naruto thought.

"I didn't want to say anything, but there's a path leading up to the Hokage heads from the back. If we go around the village, we'd explore, get into the village through the back, and be in the village a little after nightfall."

Naruto had found the path on accident once. He was running from a group of Chunin after a particularly elaborate prank when they caught him in between a rock and a hard place… literally. Either he found shelter in the Academy where he would also face the wrath of Iruka or he scaled the Hokage Mountain and risk falling off from lack of chakra control. Taking his chance on the mountains, Naruto climbed up the stone face, and evaded the Chunin chasing him by making a clone of himself. Who said his clones weren't useful? His clones didn't have to move to knock the guy off the surface off the mountain. (Explanation: Naruto made a clone that, as usual, came out as a dud. Therefore falling towards the man and being used as a dead weight) Once he was at the top, he looked back to see if he lost the Chunin, but Naruto lost balance and tripped. Lashing his hand out randomly, Naruto was able to blindly grab hold of a hanging root and swing his way to a small crack in the Fourth Hokage's stone tress of hair. At the entrance to the passage, it had _M.N._ written in the stone, but Naruto assumed it was just the signature of the architect that carves the faces.

So thanking Kami that it was summer, they trekked through the forest by the wall shirtless and shoeless towards the other side of the village. Kiba kept stopping and picking up interesting things, even finding a small piece of a white mask; he claimed that it was from the black ops. Naruto teased Kiba saying that at this rate, he might as well take home the forest and make every leaf a necklace, which was met with a swift blow to the head. The hit was followed by a comment sounding like _you're such a girl, _but it was hard to tell over Naruto's scream of protest. That brought around a rather interesting subject, which although they didn't know it yet, would bring several people in the future quite a bit of grief.

"Hey, have you noticed that most the girls in our class are really weird? Like really weird! This one girl stuck her face really close to mine and had her eyes shut. It was creepy." Kiba mumbled to his academy friends. He rubbed the back at his head while scowling at the memory. Although Naruto wasn't particularly good with grades, he was far from an idiot, and if there was one thing he knew, it was what a girl wanted when she stuck her face really close to a boy's face. (But he still had no idea how to act around _them_)

"Kiba, you idiot! She probably likes you." Naruto said as he puffed out his chest. There weren't a lot of times he got to show off know how, after all.

"Well you stick your face really close to the one you _'_like', and see what happens!"

Shikamaru mumbled a troublesome as he dragged the blonde boy away from Kiba, who was started to get angry really fast. The Nara and Uzumaki walked together silently while Chouji and Kiba continued to converse. Most people would have thought that sticking Naruto and Shikamaru together was like brushing your teeth and then drinking orange juice; it just wasn't right. But it's hard to tell what people are really like if you are just someone outside looking in. Occasionally Naruto would make a comment that made Shikamaru laugh and answer back, but otherwise they were relatively silent. But it was a comfortable silence. On the way they picked up rocks and threw them as far as they could while the sun started to sink in the sky.

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><p>It was closer to evening than afternoon as they started to notice that they didn't really look like they were making progress. In fact, it looked like they were in the same place they had been close to an hour ago. Shikamaru stopped in his tracks, looking around before cursing under his breath. He continued to walk so as not to arouse suspicion, but his skin started to crawl. The hairs in the back of his neck rose up, as a heavy feeling started to weigh on him. Naruto, Kiba and Chouji continued to walk, blissfully unaware that they were actually walking in a continual loop of a Genjutsu. Shikamaru had no idea how he was supposed to get out of the Genjutsu or even alert his friends of it without drawing attention to themselves to whoever cast it on them. Snapping his fingers together, he thought <em>Eureka!<em> before drawing Chouji, Naruto and Kiba's attention towards him. He 'happily' suggested a game called Communicator (Our version of Telephone) where you whispered something to one person, and that person would tell another until it came back in a full circle. Shikamaru switched over to Chouji's side, since he knew his first friend wouldn't verbally freak out as much as Kiba and Naruto. Leaning in close to him, Shikamaru cupped his hands.

"_I'm not kidding when I say this. This is serious. We've been stuck in a Genjutsu for an hour."_

Chouji's face fell into a frown. Shikamaru could see the fright starting to seep into the brown haired boy's eyes. Nudging Chouji in the side, Shikamaru pushed Chouji to Naruto who was bouncing in excitement. Chouji stiffly moved over to Naruto. He whispered the message, the words sounding too sharp and serious to come from a kind and joy filled boy like Chouji. Shikamaru tensed as Naruto reared back, waiting for the usually overzealous blonde to start yelling. To say the least, he was astonished as the boy only let out a small sound that came out from the back of his throat, and his eyes sharpened in a solemn manner. It made Shikamaru wonder how much they really knew about Naruto. The message was once again passed on to Kiba, who reacted similarly to Chouji.

It was hard to tell what they could really do in the situation. They were barely even half way done in their first year in the Academy and they weren't even the best of students. Of course each of them all had their unique talents that had gotten them out of trouble several times with teachers and villagers, but those people weren't threatening. Those people weren't going to harm them on purpose. As they thought about a plan to somehow escape from whatever or whoever was holding them there, Kiba, Chouji, Naruto and Shikamaru had made a fatal mistake. As the panic started to well up inside of them, making their minds and thoughts jumbled and troubled, they hadn't noticed that Kiba never said the 'phrase' out loud. (He wouldn't actually say the real thing though) It was only a few minutes later when the world around them suddenly started to dissipate, each detail dissolving into the real image.

The four boys froze in panic, their bare feet digging into the dirt ground hard as they reached for any random object to defend themselves. (Rock, stick etc.) Forgetting to take kunai or shuriken down the river didn't seem like a big deal earlier that day, but at that moment, it felt like one of the worst decisions of their lives. Kiba smelt something in the air just as the world turned from the edge of the trees near the wall, to a part of the forest where all the vegetation seemed closer together, and the sun was blocked by the net of leaves and branches above. They all jumped in fright as they heard a branch moan and creak, and the sound of leaves rustling apart.

"What do we do?"

Naruto asked under his breath. He couldn't tell who it was from when he heard someone whisper a panicked _run_ just as a shadow appeared to the left of them. He spun on his heels, as he leaped through bushes and trees with a sort of speed that would have impressed anyone in the Academy. Kiba was a little farther up in the front, while Shikamaru and Chouji weren't far behind Naruto as they darted blindly through the forest in an attempt to get away from their newly discovered chaser. Naruto checked behind him to make sure that his friend's were still in sight, but turning his head back around, he felt something solid and hard collide in to his stomach before a rough white cloth was placed over his mouth and his nose. The edges of his vision began to turn fuzzy as the rest of the world became splotchy, and his body felt a hundred pounds heavier. His ears, which felt like they were stuffed with cotton, could barely make out three more screams, and a light struggle before he finally fell unconscious.

The group of gypsy like people standing over the four boys stuffed the chloroform rags back into their pockets. Besides two of the ten members in the group, the rest were only common thieves and wanderers. Even the other two, who had a minimum amount of training as a shinobi, weren't anything really spectacular. They could only do the basics, and a few tricks they'd learned on the way. But they were still able to make a catch.

"Well, we wanted someone from the village, and I guess a bunch of civilian brats will do just as good as anything." A woman with a scarf around her waist said. She picked up the boy with the blonde hair, a little surprised at how light the boy was at his age. Shrugging the thought away, she watched as three of her other teammates picked up the other boys and slung them over their shoulders. The six other people in the group quickly checked to see that no evidence was left behind before joining back with the other four members of their group who were with the boys.

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but thank god we have you, Aki. To think our resident Genin flunky would land us probably our biggest catch."

The man addressed, Aki, nodded back while adjusting the strings on his backpack. He looked in the direction of the village before turning away. "Let's get out of here before someone accidently comes across us. Leader and the rest of the group have been waiting three days for us to return."

Without uttering another word, the group of ten ran into the foliage and away from the village. They ran for the whole afternoon as they travelled farther and farther away from the leaf village. Reaching their campsite, they threw the boys down onto the ground, tied them up, and placed them in a hut nearby. Stretching their muscles for a second, the kidnapping gypsies jogged towards the main tent where their leader and boss was; all the while silently laughing at the reactions they would get from the parents of the brats when they found out that their kids weren't coming home that night. It was too bad for them that they didn't know that Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru's parents weren't expecting them to appear back under their roofs for another four days.

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><p>Yoshino Nara's foot tapped nervously on the tiles of the kitchen floor. With Shikamaru gone, Shikaku and herself had the entire house to themselves. They hadn't been able to have sex in a long time because of Shikamaru in the house. And when they tried to do it the last time, Shikamaru started to ask too many questions about <em>the knocking sounds on the wall. <em>Thank god the boy had thought it was rodents in the house because she didn't want to explain to her little boy why their bed was knocking against the wall. And it wasn't like Shikaku was going to explain since he practically jumped out the window before their son could even finish the first question. Yes, with little Nara gone, they could finally have some alone time and she would only have to cook for two. But as she cut into the uncooked chicken, Yoshino couldn't help have a sudden feeling of uneasiness zip through her body. Shaking it off as mother's anxiety, (Shikamaru had never been away from home so long without an adult nearby) Yoshino ignored it and threw the chicken in to the hot pan. It wasn't like they weren't safe inside the walls of the village right?

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><p>I wanted to thank otaco, random Spanish speaking reviewer, lol production, Tickle Reader, SleepyWriter66, SasuNaruRevolution, Tik tok and Bunny McRabbit for reviewing and reading this story! Thank you for reading and continue to <em><strong>Review<strong>_!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Real Situations

I recently rewatched episode 215-217 of Naruto Shippuden and if you are a big fan of Naruto's and Sasuke's friendship, it hurt to watch.

Thank you to NeckoFury, HeavenKissesTheEarth and otaco for reviewing; that was kind of you! To **HeavenKissesTheEarth**, no problem! I'll keep the scene if you like it, and also because I liked it too!

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><p>Shikamaru woke up to the sound of footsteps retreating. Or maybe it was the foul smell coming from somewhere in the area. Squeezing his eye tightly to get rid of the burning sensation you got from lack of restful sleep, Shikamaru slowly creaked his eyelids open to peer at his surroundings. His vision was somewhat blurry, but as it started to clear, all he could see was a wall of a hut that was made of long wooden bars and rope. Trying to flip over, he noticed that he had been tied with a dirty cloth around his ankles and wrists. They rubbed harshly against his still soft and delicate skin; making them red and irritated after only a few minutes. Grunting at the feeling, Shikamaru rolled on to his back and looked at the other members in the shed like hut. There were five other people in their prison, and much to Shikamaru's dismay, he only knew one of the five. Naruto was on the other side of the hut, against the wall. He looked half awake; with his eyes partly closed and his head lolled to the side.<p>

Shikamaru didn't want to make any sudden movements in fear that the other people in the hut would approach him in a negative way. They all looked like even the slightest movement from a fly would set them off, and that made Shikamaru a bit more than a little disconcerted. The man closest to him looked like he might have been bitten by rabies since there was some white looking substance encircling his mouth. Turning his head sluggishly a little more to the right, Shikamaru noticed that the prisoners with them were all dressed in rags. He guessed that they had either been here for quite a while, or their captors were trying to make the experience as uncomfortable as possible.

His nose twitched again in agitation at picking up the smell again. Covering his nose, he ignored his gag reflex from smelling the putrid odor, which was coming from one of the prisoners; whose leg looked to be rotting or at least infected. There was a long gash on his calf which was covered in dirt, puss and what looked like small worm like bugs. Shikamaru shivered at the sight before literally blocking it from his peripherals with his hair. It had probably come undone since the time he had been asleep. Trying to get Naruto's attention without bothering the other prisoners, Shikamaru moved inch by inch closer to the blonde haired boy, checking the other prisoners to see if they were even paying any attention to him.

The Nara sighed in relief when the scuffing sound only attracted Naruto's attention, who gave him a relieved stare, and started to scoot closer to him as he did the same. When they finally sat shoulder to shoulder in a secluded corner of the hut, Shikamaru leaned in so as not to be heard anymore then needed.

"Do you know where Kiba and Chouji are?"

Naruto nodded his head slowly, flicking his head towards the wall he had been leaning on moments ago. "They're in another hut next to this one. I woke up a little bit before they threw them there. They thought it was best to separate us."

Shikamaru cursed at how careful these people were being. He had assumed that they would be a little more careless since the four of them were only children, but whoever was in charge apparently had more brains than that.

"What are they going to do with us?"

Shikamaru whispered to himself, trying to move his feet and hands so that the binding wouldn't put too much pressure on his wrists and ankles; cutting of his circulation. The Academy definitely hadn't gotten to the lesson where they teach you how to get out of these situations. Naruto and Shikamaru huddled together, their bare backs agitated from all the bark and dirt digging into them. The situation looked a whole lot worse without any shirts or shoes, too.

"Do you think they know we're ninja?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I dunno, but it would be a whole lot more troublesome if they did."

Naruto sighed and leaned on the wall again. His shorts were already ripped and frayed; the low quality material unable to withstand the situation between the water, mud, dirt and tugging. Looking over at the side where Kiba and Chouji's hut was placed, he hoped that they were thinking up an idea to escape because nothing was coming to mind on his end.

The door swung open, and two men walking into the little area. Kicking some of the prisoners aside for being in their path, the two men made sure to cause as much ruckus as possible. The man with the cut hissed and crawled away as one of the captors kicked some dust onto the wound on his way towards them. Without saying a word, the two men grabbed their biceps roughly and hoisted them up; making sure to be extra forceful as they did so. Taking out a rusted knife, one of the men sliced through the binds around their ankles; not even caring if the blade nicked their skin in the process. After that was done, the two men pushed Shikamaru and Naruto out of the hut, leading them through their camp and into the largest tent.

As they passed through the camp, they shrunk back from the stares they were getting from many of the members walking by them. Entering the large tent, Shikamaru and Naruto cried out in relief as they say Chouji and Kiba sitting inside and across from another group of people; four men and two women. They wore nicer clothes compared to most of the camp, but from how the colors were faded out, and the material worn looking, it appeared as if the camp was running low on money to not be able to spend on their own leaders.

Throwing them next to Kiba and Chouji, the two men that had lead them there bowed to the six in the front and left the tent quickly. It was silent in the tent for a few moments before one of the people spoke. "You come from the Hidden Leaf Village, correct?"

His voice was smooth and calm; almost silky if it weren't for the fact that there was an undertone of roughness in it. (Probably from being in harsh conditions out in the wilderness) He had long brown hair tied at the nape of his neck and tan skin. His eyes were green, but held no spectacular wonder since they were dull and dark. His mouth turned up into a smile, the ends not quite meeting his eyes. "Of course you are. I am… well telling you wouldn't be a smart thing, so you must call me Master Hisoka."

"To hell we will!" Naruto said as he jumped to his feet. Hisoka still remained calm and collected as ever, raising his hand slowly and flicking his wrist to signal to his guards standing at each corner of the tent. The one closest to them jogged over and took his stick, swinging it so that it slapped Naruto harshly on his back. The three boys winced that the slapping sound it made, the skin already turning an angry red and dark purple from the force. Naruto hissed under his breath as tears gathered at the corner of his blue eyes before the blonde plopped back down; his jaw shaking from his refusal to cry in front of the enemy.

"Yes well… to the point. Your names?"

Shikamaru took a shaky breath, his form tense as he choked out a few words. "Iruka Umino."

Chouji quickly answered after Shikamaru, catching into the ploy. "Mizuki Sato."

"Tsuzumi Sarugaku." Said Kiba.

Naruto stayed silent, his head snapping to the side in a defiant way. Hisoka's hand rose again at that, the guard already moving forward to whack Naruto down another time. Naruto raised his bound hands shaking them. "Alright, alright already! Geez… it's Naruko Sasami."

Naruto inwardly cursed for choosing his sexy Jutsu female form's name, which was definitely female. Hisoka's eyebrows rose at that, a chuckle vibrating in his throat along with a few other people in the tent. "Is that really your name?"

Naruto blushed brightly, and crossed his arms. "I haven't gotten it legally changed yet so shut the fuck up."

Hisoka waved the comment off, placing his chin in one of his hands and contemplative look crossing his face. "None of them are from renowned clans, but I'm sure we could still get a price. But then again, we could sell them at the market. We could probably get more out of them there."

The boys paled at the comment; Kiba already looking as if he was about to cry at any moment. Shaking his head like a wet dog, the triangle tattooed boy stood up much like Naruto had done.

"You can't do that! That's just… just…" Hearing the whistle of the stick about to come down on his back, Kiba instinctively raised his bound hands to partly cover his back. The wooden pole made contact with his fisted hands, only slightly slapping his back, but it hurt all the same.

"Ow ow ow! I think he broke a finger!" Kiba yelled as he rolled on the ground.

"That's enough! It would do us no good to sell damaged goods. Take them to the out posts and tie them there. Hopefully the sun will tire them so they don't make a ruckus at the market."

Shoving the boys out of the tent, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji were pushed towards four wooden posts sticking out of the ground. The posts were behind the large tent, and were lined up in a row so that their backs would face away from the make shift home. The guards rebound their feet and tied them to the poles with extra pieces of ripped cloth; though the second set was a lot looser than the rag tied around their wrists.

Trying to lift his back away from the wooden pole, Kiba twitched at the feeling of splinters poking into his skin. His stomach growled with hunger which was completely understandable since the last time they had eaten was the previous morning. That meant he had missed a lunch, dinner, breakfast and in a few hours, another lunch! His stomach clenched in desperation, and he groaned as his stomach gave a loud growl, which was followed by equally loud sounds coming from his three friends. Angry tears started to well up in his eyes as he yanked his hands around. Pulling hard, his heart skipped when he heard the material encircling his hands tear a bit.

"Guys. Hey guys? That guard that whacked me just got us a free ticket out of here." Kiba whispered excitedly. It was an outcome purely made of luck. When the guard had brought the wooden spear down on Kiba's back, and Kiba had his bound hands in the way, he had unknowingly ripped the cloth with the force of the blow. Not by much, but enough to allow Kiba to rip the rest of the way through.

Kiba turned his head a bit, listening to hear if the people in the tent behind them were listening in on them. Satisfied with the lack of response behind the curtain of cloth, Kiba continued to break the cloth apart until it was completely ripped off his wrists. Rotating his hands, Kiba slowly slipped them from under the second clothes hold and rubbed his blistered wrists. Crawling as quietly as possible, Kiba moved over to Shikamaru who was next to him and picked at the knots; trying his best to get them to come loose. When they finally did, Shikamaru and Kiba rolled over to Naruto and Chouji and undid their rag cloth chains, too.

Once they were all free from the posts, they untied the knot around their ankles, and stayed quiet. Looking around to see that no one was watching or listening to them, Kiba, Chouji, Naruto and Shikamaru silently made their way to an area of barrels and bags. Slipping into the maze of supplies, the four boys huddled together against the boxes and bags around them.

"They probably won't check on us for another hour. Escaping only a few minutes after being tied up is pretty much unheard of." Shikamaru reasoned. Ripping open a bag under him, he only found tin cups and pans. Motioning for the other three boys to check the supplies, (But as silently and carefully as possible) they searched for some kind of food of some sorts. Frowning at the lack of luck they were presented at the moment, the four boys used four of the larger bags as make shift cloaks. Crawling on their hands and knees, the Pre-Genin started to move out from the other side of the mess.

"Wait a moment. Kiba, Chouji, you both are better at the clone Jutsu than Naruto. Maybe we can buy ourselves a little more time if each of us makes our own clone and then Kiba or Chouji makes an extra for Naruto. At least just until we're farther from the camp."

Nodding in agreement, the three boys concentrated hard on their hand seals and made clones to look tied to the poles. They appeared pretty authentic from afar, but all of them knew that if someone even lightly tapped one of the clones, they would burst in to a cloud of smoke. Hustling through an emptier area of the camp, they dodged and weaved through other tents until they were able to make it into the forest. From that point on, it was running nonstop. About two miles from the camp, the clones dispelled. From what, they did not know, but it only made them run faster. A few miles from camp they stopped; Chouji collapsing on to the ground in a coughing fit.

"Oh man! I forgot that an Akimichi can die of they don't eat food often! This is really bad!" Shikamaru moaned as he rolled Chouji on to his back. Patting the paling boy on the back, Shikamaru looked around to see if there were any plants to eat.

"Kiba and I will go find some kind of mushroom or berry, believe it!" Naruto rasped out through his parched throat. Both boys disappeared in to the forest in search of some kind of food or water. Shikamaru waited for them to return, getting more worried by the minute. A half hour later, Kiba and Naruto came back with a pine tree in tow. How they had been able to knock down the tree, Shikamaru didn't know, but at that point, he could hardly care either way.

"Mom said that you can eat pretty much anything off a pine tree. Like the sap, leaves, and nuts. I think she even said the bark is edible."

The boys all turned green at the thought of eating anything off the tree. The dried foods weren't looking too bad about now, but they were desperate. Even if it was only enough to settle their cramping stomachs; they'd hold their protesting thoughts for after. Taking a piece of wood and driving it into the tree, the four boys (they had dragged Chouji out of his half unconscious state) sourly started to pick at the oozing yellowish white sap, and the hard nuts. Naruto at one point ran to a bush to vomit, but before the acidy liquid could fully come out, Shikamaru clamped a hand on his mouth and nose and made him swallow it again. The shadow boy had explained that Naruto would be a whole lot worse off with nothing in his stomach at all than a nasty taste in his mouth. With a shaky breath, he nodded his head, and went to sit beside the others again as he tried to control the utter misery laced on his face. After they were all sure that Chouji would be fine, they sent Kiba try climb a tree to see what direction they should go.

Kiba ignored the ants that were crawling across his still shoeless feet. He made his way to the highest part of the tree that he could stand on without breaking the branch under him, and looked in all directions. It was pretty much an endless expanse of trees and large boulders sticking out of the ground. "What exactly should I be looking for?"

"Look to see if there is some kind of smoke coming from somewhere. Cities are usually polluted like that." Shikamaru said.

Glancing in all directions again, the boy was about to give up when he did start to see thin lines of dark clouds from a distance. Judging the distance and height, Kiba guessed that wherever the smoke was coming from, it was a good fifteen miles away, which would probably take them five hours to get there. Sliding down the tree base, Kiba skidded back on to the ground and explained it to the rest of them. Shikamaru said that it would be wiser to not run or use too much chakra to save energy, since they were already exhausted. Before they continued on their journey, Chouji suggested they take small strips from their bag-made cloaks and wrap them around their feet before they started to bleed. Nodding in agreement, they made sure the wrapping was nice and tight. With Kiba in the lead, (their resident tracker trainee) they struggled their way through the forest.

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><p>"I think we're nearby. Can you smell that?" Naruto yelled out. After walking for hours in the wilderness, the four boys had started to hear loud noises ahead. In a rush of excitement and pure relief the four boys ranlimped their way through the rest of the trees and finally broke through the last of the shrubbery. They stood in front of the outskirts of a large city. It was both amazing and frightening at the same time. They had never seen anything like it, since they had not only lived in a Hidden Village all their lives, but mostly the better part of it. The red light district was something they all stayed clear of, even if Naruto lived pretty close to it. The tall buildings and flashing lights were almost dream like if it weren't for the fact that half the signs were flickering out and the walls were painted with some fancy style of wording. Sure they had seen Naruto spray the walls of the village several times, but at least they could read the words; the ones here just looked like elaborate designs.

It was the middle of the day, and most the people in the city looked half asleep like they'd been up all night. As they snuck in to an empty alley way, the four boys stepped over several bottles of liquid; some were still filled with a sweet or bitter smelling liquid. Stepping farther in to the dimly lit area, Naruto screamed in surprise as a tan colored cat zoomed between his legs and made sure to add in an extra loud hiss as its tail vanished in the conglomeration of silver trash cans. He held his chest in surprise, and tried to ignore the snickering coming from Kiba and Chouji. Shikamaru only shook his head before kicking a glass bottle against the brick wall and watching it shatter.

"Keep it down ass wipes! I've got a night shift later!"

They jumped as a red headed woman poked her head out of a door a few feet down from where they were. Her eyes widened a bit as she peered over at the four boys. They stared at each other in an awkward silence with the woman cursing under her breath and rubbing the back of her neck. Her eyes softened considerably before she spoke a little softer and waved them over. "Sorry baby dolls. Didn't know I was dealing with kiddies. Looks like you've had a rough time, huh. Well don't just stand there lookin stupid, come on."

First hesitant to trust a complete stranger, they stood still and just watched her warily. But when she rolled her eyes and popped back inside, (The door still open) they decided to follow her in. Closing the door behind them, the pushed back a couple of curtains before they entered a small area that looked like a strange combination of a bedroom, make up area and a closet. And surprisingly it was clean and orderly. The woman they had followed inside was only wearing a thin mint green robe and a messy bun on the top of her head.

"The names Cherry. So where are your parents? Can't say I've seen you around here. There aren't many children here anyway. Well, at least who aren't looking for easy pay…"

"Um well it's a bit complicated. Where is here anyway?"

The woman sat them down on a long couch, before walking over to a comfortable chair in front of the mirror lined with light bulbs like the ones actors have. She crossed her legs and cracked her back, a content sigh leaving her lips. "This is Yorokobi City; hottest gambling, games and pleasure spot in the entire West Fire Country. You're not runaway slaves are you? Hungry?"

Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Naruto nodded their heads eagerly. She pushed the chair over a bit and opened a drawer. Grabbing a whole handful of what was in the drawer, she tossed it towards the four boys who easily caught it and were happy to see that it was a whole bunch of chocolate bars. She raised her eyebrows at the quick and precise movement before waiting for them to answer. Chouji was the one to speak up next.

"No. We're from Konohagakure. We're kind of lost."

Cherry fiddled with a stray curly hair draped over the side of her face before she raised a perfectly manicured finger in their direction. Opening the door, she walked out and left the four boys to munch on the candy. They swung their legs on the couch, their feet not meeting the floor because of their short stature. Licking their fingers and smacking their lips, they waited for Cherry to return. When she did come back several minutes later, she was followed by four other women. They wore similar robes to Cherry, but seemed to have words sewn on to the back.

"Sorry Baby- Leafs. I just needed to get a few friends. If you haven't noticed the name tags in the back…" pointing her finger at each women "Coco, Chocolate, Caramel and Cream."

Cream skipped over to Naruto holding his face in her hands. "Aren't you a handsome little boy! Guys he looks like a fox! So cute!"

Naruto swatted Cream's hands away looking quite offended and at the same time embarrassed. He was sure that today was _humiliate-Naruto_ day because the world so far was sure making that his friends were having a pretty good laugh at him. Luckily, the other woman, Coco, pulled her off of him and smacked her upside the head.

"Don't scare the poor boy!"

Giving a cute pout, the five women pulled up chairs across from them. From the way they were sitting it was pretty obvious that Chocolate was the leader, followed by Cherry. Chocolate took out a cigarette, lighting it as she watched the four boys squirm a bit under her stare. Flipping back her long black hair, Chocolate blew out a huge puff of smoke.

"I'm just throwing out ideas, but you wouldn't have happened to be picked up by a group of gypsy looking bandits, were you?"

"How did you know?" Chouji questioned through a mouth full of the candy.

"There's been talk of them sneaking around. They pick up pretty much anyone and either sells them back to their families or to the slave market. Some of our richer customers own some of the slaves that came from them."

Naruto looked at them nervously, his face scrunching in a bit. "Are you um… are you…"

"Jezebels? Yeah but we won't hurt yah. Just because we're not perfect people don't mean we're not good people."

Chocolate gave them some old shirts and sandals to wear; a lot of it too big for them, but would have to do at the moment. Pushing the boys in to an empty room, Chocolate explained that they could stay there for the rest of the day and sleep there for the night, but in the morning, they'd send them off in the right direction back home.

Kiba, Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji sat on the bed in the room. Stomachs full and more than a little exhausted from their adventure, they lulled to sleep in to dreams of arriving back home by tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, their troubles were far from ending.

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><p>Awesome! As the new authoress, I reread what SleepyWriter66 wrote, and was honestly impressed by this chapter; besides a few grammar things, and I had to add a few sentences. But god I love this story!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Never Safe

Sorry! Not really any real excuse for updating. I just lost my writing touch blah.

_Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto then Sasuke would have stayed... or at least come back quite a while ago. T-T_

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><p>The four boys curled up together in the small bed, and tried to ignore the loud noises outside. The once ghost-like city had pretty much sprung to life the moment the sun started to sink lower into the sky. It was probably a little bit past midnight, and the sound outside the walls of their borrowed room didn't seem to be lessening any time soon. If anything it was getting louder and even more upbeat. The music literally shook the walls, and made their eardrums buzz as they tried to muffle it out with the pillows and covers around them. None of the women from earlier had come by since they had placed them in the room, and the only indication that they were still around was an occasional sound of their names at different intervals over the music, laughing and yelling. They hadn't realized how quiet Konoha was at night until then; or was it the other way around? Maybe it was just really loud here…<p>

Naruto tossed around until settling on his stomach facing Shikamaru. The new tie in his hair had come slightly loose, which gave the Nara an even lazier look to him. All four of them stared at each other with miserable and tired eyes. Kiba had his face turned the other way as if he were about to cry and was scared that the others would see. Though they weren't doing any better. And who would expect them too? They were who knows how far away from home, constantly running into trouble, and they hadn't slept or eaten anything decent in days.

They all lay there as still as possible, even though they all felt restless and nervous inside. Jumping in surprise as they heard loud laughter approach their door, they tensed as the door knob was jiggled a few times.

"Should we… should we hide or something?" Kiba tried whispering over the noise.

The suggestion was too little too late as the door was harshly kicked open and large dark figures started to tumble in. The distinct smell of alcohol filled the room along with cheap perfume which only upset the mini-Konoha member's stomachs even more. Keeping their eyes firmly planted on the ten or so men stumbling around the room with glasses practically glued to their sweaty hands, Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji slowly slid off the bed. Strangely enough, the drunken club members hadn't seemed to notice the four young children in the room with them as they bounced to the distant thrumming of the music.

Seeing a few of them draw closer to where they were hiding, the four pre-genin slipped under the bed and watched as mud covered shoes tripped over themselves. They all turned to stare at each other when the footsteps halted in front of the bed. The men's voices were hard to understand from where they were, but the hushed whispering and chuckles made them even more anxious.

"Shit!" Kiba grabbed on to Naruto's arm when he felt a strong grip start to drag him from under the bed. After losing his grip on Naruto, Kiba tried clawing his way back under the bed, but only left long scratch marks on the floor as he was almost fully pulled out. Naruto latched on to Kiba's oversized shirt, and pulled with all his might.

"Oh noo ya dunt!" The slurred voice said as the tugged on Kiba one more time; causing both of them to come out from under the bed. Naruto lashed out violently, and he was pretty sure that his foot connected with the other man's jaw, but he would never know for sure. Not a second later, a hand descended on his cheek causing his head to snap to the side while Kiba tried to struggle away from two other males who had grabbed on to him.

"Kapana look at this boy's cheeks! He's a little rascal with tattoos ain't he?" A burly looking man said as he held Kiba to his chest.

"Let me go asshole! Or I'll rip your throat out!" That was met with a hard punch to the stomach by Chouji who had jumped out from under the bed to save Kiba. Shikamaru was standing beside Naruto who was trying to crack his neck after the harsh turn it took from the slap. The punch didn't do much good as the man's stomach felt like a brick wall, and Chouji was soon picked up by a man who looked like he hadn't shaved in days. Grabbing Chouji's from around the middle, the man tossed the round boy to his friend who tossed him back easily.

Shikamaru was being held upside down by his ankles to where the tips of his fingers just barely brushed the worn out carpeted floor. The man holding Shikamaru was swinging him back and forth while blankly staring at his friend who was sitting on top of Naruto. The large shirt Shikamaru was wearing almost too easily started to slip off, and lay scrunched up around his face and biceps. Unfortunately, the combination of blood flowing to his head, and the smell of the dirty shirt smothering him in the face proved to be too much. Slowly, he started to get dizzy until the world started to spin lightly. Bringing his hands together weakly, Shikamaru tried his best to concentrate as much as possible, which seemed rather hard in their situation. Kiba's mouth had already been stuffed with a dirty rag, but was flailing like a fish out of water, and the other's were trying to fight back as much as possible, too. The futile attempts by all of them, but Shikamaru feel even more hopeless.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Shikamaru tried to block out the sound of Chouji crying in protest at being tossed around like some ball, and Naruto screaming his head off as the man above him pressed him to the ground with his knee; drunkenly pouring alcohol on the blonde boy's face and chest.

Holding his hands together, Shikamaru summoned up as much strength as he could.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" A shadow stretched from across the room, and wrapped around the legs of Shikamaru's harasser. Jerking his hands forward, Shikamaru tripped the man to the floor.

"Why you little shit!" Trying to scramble away, Shikamaru wasn't expecting the male to recover so quickly. The little Nara was slammed to the floor; his face being grinded to the ground. His hair tie came loose and let his dark brownish black hair fall into his face. The drunken man paused for a moment before keeling over in bitter gasps of laughter.

"You remind me of my ex. Stupid whore didn't know her place."

Leaning down so that his face was level with Shikamaru's and the boy could easily smell alcohol tainted breath, the older man gave Shikamaru a small, creepy smile.

"I like to reminisce. Don't I boys?"

A cheer of applause came from the stumbling men, but were cut off with a loud battle cry. Naruto let his knee connected with his captor's groin, and made a mad dash towards the man holding Shikamaru. Barreling into him, Naruto grabbed Shikamaru and pulled him up on his feet. They barely went anywhere as three of the men who had been standing to the side the whole time easily wrestled them to the dirty floor. At that point, all four boys were having a hard time even fighting back a little. The loud music was making their eardrums buzz like crazy, and the mishmash of all the smells in the air and lack of sleep were making them wobbly.

"I think it's time to part ways. Say goodbye!"

Hauling the boys on to their shoulders, they walked out of the room, and down several hallways. Naruto tried to struggle out of the man's hold as Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji were dragged off out of sight, but it was no use. It was true that many of the villagers had been violent with him, but he never really got hurt because he was a fast runner. With a speedy escape, and because he knew Konoha's best hiding places like he knew the inside of a ramen cup, Naruto never had to worry about brute strength. But this situation loudly reminded Naruto why he always ran. He wasn't strong enough. He couldn't fight back because he could barely even crush a can in his hand let alone knock a man unconscious.

"Let me go! You'll regret this, bastard! What are you even going to do to me?"

The man paused in his step before slamming Naruto against the wall, and letting his face get really close without touching.

"You know there's a reason I chose you. It's hard to forget those stupid whiskered cheeks…" The man whispered into Naruto's ear. The man sighed deeply as he slowly blinked his blood shot eyes.

"I used to live in Konoha, you know? Had to move away because… well life just wasn't working out for me. Wanted to be a doctor, but I just couldn't pay for the schooling. You see, my parents died a few years ago… and it was just all downhill from there."

The male had a malicious gleam in his eyes as he looked at Naruto. He opened his mouth as if to continue but shut it was a small spine-chilling smile slithered on to his face. Naruto shook in fright as he held on to the man's arm that was holding him up a few feet off the ground. The blonde's head snapped to the side as he heard a familiar voice cry out in pain.

"Shikamaru!"

Naruto tried to struggle out of the man's grip, but it was no use. The man's head was turned in the direction of where Shikamaru's scream came from before he slowly turned back to face Naruto. A frown was set firmly on his face as his brows ticked in thought.

"I wonder if demons do it better?" He asked Naruto.

He didn't wait for Naruto to answer as he stroked the whiskered cheeks softly for a second before grabbing a hold of his face with one hand and squeezing it tightly. The older man pressed his body against Naruto's, easily being able to pin the boy and hold him down. Pulling Naruto by the hair, he bit down harshly until the boy's shoulder bled. Naruto tried to fight back. He kicked and screamed with all his might, but it was no use. The rest was lost in the night.

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><p>Shikamaru lay on the dirt floor in the alley alone. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, and couldn't do more than think just a little. Just twitching his foot hurt, and at that point, as the burnt red sun was rising over Yorokobi, he no longer felt the bloody bruises, or the alcohol that had soaked in to the borrowed shirt. His numbed mind couldn't understand how anyone could be so lucky and unlucky in one night. If that <em>man <em>hadn't knocked himself out before actually going through with what he wanted to do, Shikamaru knew that he would have been worse off than how he was now. His dull eyes watched as a cat slunk by into the shadows and away from the light shining in to the city. With each passing minute, the town became quieter and quieter as less people were awake and more were tucked in to hotel beds from a long night of 'fun'. The young Nara blinked his eyes a few times as the bright sun rays spilt over his dirty face and sticky hair. And with that, the night was over, and Shikamaru finally closed his eyes.

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><p>Chouji and Kiba could hardly remember what happened last night after Shikamaru and Naruto were taken in the opposite direction. Both boys were tossed around and roughed up, and in an unfortunate coincidence, both their foreheads collided with each other's mid throw. Shaking his head to get rid of the morning disorientation, Kiba flinched as he felt the feeling of cold metal chains cutting in to both of his wrists. Chouji was waking up in a similar fashion, but on the other side of their 'cell' or where ever they were. Creaking their eyes open, the young boys noticed that they were in a barred carriage moving slowly through the quiet city. Crawling to the window in the front where the driver was, Kiba gasped when he saw the familiar face. He tried struggling out of the ties, and biting down on the gag tied around his mouth, but that did nothing to help in the situation. Under the dark hood, the man turned around to fully face Kiba; a wicked smirk curling on to his face. Hisoka gave a mocking cluck of his tongue as he laughed at his expression.<p>

"Who do you think I am? As if I would let you get away without another word…truly naive. What a coincidence that you would end up in the same city I operate. It's a bit disappointing that your friends, Iruka and Naruko, were damaged goods by the time I got here, but we could probably sell blondie and ponytail anyway."

Kiba looked around the carriage, but Shikamaru and Naruto were nowhere in sight. As if sensing his question, Hisoka chuckled under his breath. "Separation was for the best. Gotta say that you guys are a feisty bunch."

Chouji looked at Hisoka with worry. "Damaged goods? What does that mean? What have you done with them? Are they really hurt?"

Hisoka scowled at the boy before pointing his nose up in defiance. "Fuck little boy. I'm not your fricking servant… I'm not going to answer every question you ask. Now shut up and sit down before I gag you… god this is why I sell them quick."

Chouji and Kiba sat there silently. At any other time, Kiba would have been kicking and screaming till the end (showing off the infamous Inuzuka temper) but how could he now? Separated, divided… Naruto wouldn't have his back this time if he did something stupid.

Mindlessly chewing on the rag in his mouth, Kiba sniffled tears back. He missed parents, and his older sister. Would they even check on them deep in the forest? Or would 'boys be boys'? Kiba looked away when he noticed Chouji starting to cry softly. He didn't want to see them because if he looked anymore, he would start crying too. An hour or two passed and the cart finally came to a halt. Kiba made sure that his eyes were completely dry before turning to face the locked door in the back of the carriage. The wooden doors creaked open, and two men walked in and grabbed the both of them. Hisoka had already walked off with another group whom were loudly exclaiming that they had found a 'good bunch' just a few hours earlier. Throwing Kiba and Chouji over their shoulders, the two men jogged off. Rounding a corner, they came to two tall posts that were shaped like T's; ropes hanging from each corner edge on top. One post was already occupied though. They could clearly see Shikamaru and Naruto tied upside down by their ankles.

"Guys! Are you alright?" Chouji yelled since Kiba's mouth was still full of rag.

Neither boy moved even an inch. Though Kiba and Chouji couldn't even tell if they were unconscious or not anyway since their backs were facing away from them. Twisted so that they too were upside down, Kiba and Chouji cried out in discomfort as the ropes dug in to their skin. With one last pull of the ropes, the two males left the boys swinging as they went off to do whatever they were told. Kiba leaned his body forward and started to swing back and forth. Chouji just looked at him confused, but Kiba just ignored the Akimichi for the moment as each swing started to pick up a little more momentum. Rotating his head to the left, he looked over at Naruto and Shikamaru's faces. Naruto's eyes were firmly shut even with all the blood rushing to his face, but Shikamaru's were open, even if only half lidded. Kiba tried to get Shikamaru's attention, but the youngest Nara seemed completely out of it. His eyes were open, but it didn't even look like he was awake. Sure, the little genius's mind would wander, and he'd zone out, but his eyes were at least a tiny bit expressive to what he was feeling. Shikamaru's eyes were frighteningly vacant, and that scared Kiba more than anything else.

Finally being able to loosen the gag enough, he let it fall to the ground.

"Chouji there's something wrong with Shikamaru! Naruto's out, but Shika's just… he just looks wrong. I don't know how to explain it!" Kiba cried out.

Chouji swung to the side, and held on to the base of the T shaped pole they were tied to. Pushing himself so that he wouldn't swing back to the right, and farther away from the rest of the gang, Chouji craned his neck.

"Shikamaru?"

There was no reply. Calling out his name again, Chouji almost started to cry when no one answered back. The round boy bit his lip, and looked like he was going to give up, but suddenly got a determined glint in his watery eyes.

"Shikamaru, you know there are a bunch of clouds in the sky. It's a really beautiful day, too."

Kiba looked at Chouji like he'd lost his mind, but he was quickly silenced when Chouji have him a sharp look.

"It's not even hot today so you can lie in the sun as long as you want. Didn't you say you always wanted to be a cloud?"

The only response was a slight shifting from their silent companion, but that was better than nothing.

"I don't know what happened when we were separated, and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to hear it, but… but if we're ever going to get out of here, I can't do it without you. What does your dad always say? 'Misfortune is never mournful to the soul that accepts it; for…"

"…such do always see that every cloud is an angel's face." Shikamaru rasped out. He sounded terrible, and his eyes looked like he had been crying for hours; something they didn't doubt if they found him like they did a few minutes ago.

"How are you holding up?" Kiba whispered to Shikamaru in concern.

Shikamaru bit back a harsh comment before turning his face away. "It doesn't matter now. Some of the people healed me here before they tied me up. Probably did the same for Naruto."

As if on cue, Naruto started to awake up. "Uhh what happened?" He said.

"We're back in the kidnapper camp… place." Kiba murmured towards the blonde. "What happened to you guys last night?"

For a moment, Naruto looked like he was in pain before shaking his head. "I don't… know."

Naruto's eyes suddenly darkened; showing depths of which none of the three other boys had ever seen from him. When first becoming friends with Naruto, all three were very much aware of the village's overall dislike for the blonde boy, but being detested by so many people didn't come from just pranking. While Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru refused to pry into Naruto's own business, they were always concerned about how much hurt Naruto went through by himself.

Shikamaru's head snapped to the side quickly when the whisker cheeked boy said that. "What do you mean 'you don't know'? You just told me three hours ago."

"What do you mean? I don't remember much after I was pushed against a wall by the guy that took me away. I remember parts, like the pain, but I feel like someone threw my thoughts into a shredder and left the pieces behind. It's like someone didn't want me to remember for some reason…" Naruto tried to explain as he rubbed his head.

You could see the gears in Shikamaru's mind working before he turned his head back to his three friends. "Who knows? Maybe it's like what people get from wars? Shell shock, denial amnesia."  
>Naruto only sighed as he cracked his neck. They could here noises coming from farther in to the camp, but it was impossible to make out what was going on around them. For a moment, they all froze as a group of people walked by them and into another tent before moving again. Naruto swung to the side and held on to the base pole just as Chouji was doing before taking in a shaky breath. "Even if we don't get out of this, we're in this together."<p>

All of them nodded in unison before falling in to silence. The sun was at full peak when something finally did happen. A huge blast came from within the camp; screams and yells erupting from within and outside of tents. The fiery explosion was followed by several others; successfully making the very earth vibrate by the force.

"What's going on?" Naruto yelled over all the noise as they all started to cover their ears.

They could hear the sounds of metal connecting with metal along with wood being crushed in to small splinters. The poles they were tied to were slowly starting to come out of the ground; leaning dangerously to one side or the other. They could hear people running around, and sounds of things being thrown in the air, but not much could be said about what happened on the other side of the tents. But four sharp whistling sounds later, all four of the ropes were cut, and Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba landed on the ground hard. Twisting around to see who was approaching they all watched in horror as the female ninja from Kusagakure approaching them (obvious by the attire and village headband) was stabbed through the stomach by a man from the camp. She looked down at the wound before falling over; a pool of blood already forming underneath her.

The smell hit them hard, and all of them looked like they were going to vomit any second. Trying to untie the thick rope tied around their ankles, they rolled out of the way of burning wood flying through the air, and stray weapons appearing from past the row of tents. A small group of kids burst through the lining and started to make their way to the forest.

"Hey! Hey can you untie us!" Kiba yelled frantically as two of the small group already entered and disappeared into the tree lining. One boy quickly turned around and raced towards him. He appeared to be about thirteen years old and looked oddly familiar. He had long jet black hair, and pale skin, but they couldn't see the boy's eyes as he darted towards them, cut the ropes, and ran off; only sparing them one last glance before disappearing.

Rubbing their ankles quickly, they didn't waste any more time as they barreled through the forest. They could hear other people running through the forest around them; trying to get as far away from the camp as possible. They ran until their feet felt heavy, and the trees only looked like blurs. The sound of fire crackling and burning down anything it could cling on to soon vanished; followed by an eerie silence. They all slowed down to catch their breath, and watched as a huge cloud of black smoke started to climb its way higher into the sky.

Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Naruto collapsed on to the ground and against trees as they tried to get their heart beats back to normal. The boys were all staring at the sky, and the smoke until Naruto slowly turned his head so that he was looking at Kiba. Both boys stared at each other for a moment before they snapped. At first it was slow and you couldn't hear it, but the brunette and blonde started to giggle. Seconds later, uncontrollable laughter erupted from all four boys, as they clutched their sides and fell over. Tears started to build up in their eyes from laughing so hard. And through the laughter, they started to cry. Tears started to stream down their dirty faces as they held on to each other.

In the corner of their minds, they couldn't help but fear this was what it would be like to be a ninja. This constant fear and pain? Was this what they were all excited to accomplish after graduating from the academy?

Naruto shook his head defiantly before rubbing the tears away. "When I become a ninja I'm going to beat the crap out of anyone who tries to do that again!"

Kiba nodded his head before pumping his fist in the air. The gesture wasn't as impressive since steams of tears were still making their way down his tattooed cheeks. "Yeah! We'll be the strongest ninjas ever! And we'll save people and stuff!"

He finished the last phrase with a watery hiccup. Chouji and Shikamaru nodded and agreement as they slowly tried to calm down. The two boys watched as Kiba and Naruto tried to cheer each other up, but it was only making them cry even harder. Completely exhausted, they sat in the middle of the forest for a long time until there were no more tears to cry.

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><p>I'm sorry if this chapter sucked. My writing spark has gone out, but I didn't want you guys waiting any longer for the last few chapters.<p>

BTW: Characters that are given no names, but are emphasized are what I call open ended characters. It leaves me with ideas if anyone ever wants a sequel or I just want to be clever and make a separate story that slightly ties with another. Sorry for the long wait! I'll update soon!


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